


heard through the grapevine

by QueenCamellia



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: F/M, an ode to hazel tbh, no really that's all it is, two pining idiots not realizing they like each other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-06
Updated: 2020-02-06
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:33:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22586431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenCamellia/pseuds/QueenCamellia
Summary: Gloria's an independent, confident adult. She's Galar's Champion of ten years. She's Hop's best friend.She's not going to let her unrequited girlhood crush on Hop ruin nearly two decades of friendship.
Relationships: Hop/Yuuri | Gloria, maybe hints of others but shhh
Comments: 5
Kudos: 49





	heard through the grapevine

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Hazel0217](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hazel0217/gifts).



He’s pulling that sad, droopy-eyed face again.

It’s a pretty nice day, all things considered: Gloria’s schedule as Champion had been mostly cleared for the week, save a charity event at a nearby hospital, due to her saving grace Marnie. (Her former rival had argued for a vacation on her behalf to the League, pointing out that they’d sent their champion to  _ three _ different regions for conferences in the past two weeks and a tired Gloria would undoubtedly stir up headaches for them with the press.) 

She’s sitting alongside Hop on a stone bench, her head feeling almost too light without Gloria wearing her signature ponytail that she’d adopted over the years. While it’s a bright day outside, the clocktower’s shadow looms over them, shielding them from the sun’s wrath. There are people minding their own business on the cobblestone streets, sure, but some spare a glance at them and do a double take.

Thankfully, nobody approaches them—Gloria chalks that up to Bede’s outburst the other day when the public had swarmed her and him while they were out catching up—but she’s sure that pictures of them will end up splashed all over the tabloid pages tomorrow.

It doesn’t really phase her anymore, though—not like how the media’s scrutiny used to daunt her in the beginning of her reign as a champion, anyways.

Gloria’s more concerned with the absentminded, almost melancholic look that passes on Hop’s face; it’s a look that she’d grown a bit accustomed with, back in the day when they’d both shared the same dream of climbing to the top and she’d  _ crushed _ his dreams mercilessly.

(They’ve talked this over before. Hop doesn’t blame her. She should really stop beating herself up to it, but even though she’s twenty and more self-assured, Gloria sometimes feels like the same anxious ten-years-old who’d been afraid her friend would abandon her.)

To the untrained eye, it’d seem like the assistant professor (and soon-to-be actual professor) was just lost in his thoughts, as Hop was sometimes apt to do, but Gloria knows better. (She knows  _ him.) _

Besides, Hop’s been acting pretty down for awhile—recently, whenever they meet up, he’s been more absentminded. A bit more...quiet. Reserved. It isn’t like him.

He’s sneaking a glance at her again, like he thinks she wouldn’t notice. Gloria entertains the thought of calling out Hop, but decides against it: she doesn’t want to scare him off. Maybe she should breach the topic more gently.

Then again, he’d confide in her eventually, right? Even if they don’t see each other too often because of their busy schedules, Gloria and Hop are  _ best friends. _ They’re partners.

For now, she’ll settle for wiping that frown off his face.

(She likes Hop best when he’s smiling. He’s breathtaking when he smiles.)

(Gloria pauses to remind herself that she is twenty years old, she’s known Hop for ages, they’re close friends, and she is  _ not _ going to jeopardize a friendship of nearly two decades for a silly schoolgirl crush that she’d outgrown.)

(Mostly.)

She clears her throat. No better way to keep herself accountable than to come clean.  _ Besides, he’ll probably get a kick out of it.  _ “Oh, Hop, there’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you.”

He raises his eyebrows at her, urging her to go on. Gloria pretends she doesn’t find the way that he’s buried into his jacket cute.

Gloria laughs, and she thinks she sounds pretty convincingly blase when she admits: “You were my childhood crush, you know?”

He stares at her for a second, not processing. Gloria fidgets, wondering if it’d been a bad move on her part, but abruptly, Hop sits up. 

A smile breaks across her lips, this time much more real. At the very least, he isn’t slumped over, looking like the world’s falling apart around him. Despite the heat threatening to rush to her cheeks, Gloria pushes on.

“Ah...we were so cute when we were still kids.”

For a second, she thinks back to those days. They were a lot simpler: no politicians trying to wheedle an endorsement out of her, no long weeks before she could see him, no research deadlines nor tournaments to supervise...just Gloria and Hop. She really does miss those days.

“I still remember that I loved it whenever you smiled, Hop,” she says, using the past tense like a liar as she keeps her tone light. She giggles, turning to him and confessing, “I blushed every time I saw it.”

They lock eyes, and for a second, Gloria feels like she’s fifteen and hopelessly pining for a boy who’s seas away again. Hop’s eyes are almost like molten gold—not unlike Leon’s, but whereas Leon’s gaze has always been one of comfort and strength, Hop’s is warm and full of  _ trust.  _ Even now, with Gloria kind of spilling her heart out to him in the most ridiculous, rambling way possible, he’s listening to her.

That’s not to say that he isn’t—well, super freaked out, from what she can tell. He’s tense, and it shows. She feels her heart drop to her stomach, but Gloria had already resolved to fully put these pesky, lingering feelings of hers to rest, hadn’t she?

“But don’t worry!” she says, maybe a bit too quickly, but she hopes Hop doesn’t notice. “I don’t like you that way anymore. It was just a childhood crush, anyways! I just thought you’d find it funny.”

(She’ll let go. It’s about time, anyways.)

“I’ll always be your friend,” she says sincerely, “So feel free to tell me anything that’s on your mind.”

Gloria laughs, feeling her cheeks heat up at how ridiculous she must sound—a full-grown adult, reminiscing over her childhood crush with  _ said _ childhood crush who is also her best friend. To her surprise, Hop doesn’t join in with her laughter, though he’s probably just flabbergasted that he hadn’t noticed her girlhood crush at all. It’s not really a surprise, though, considering how  _ dense _ Hop had been.

“Oh...thanks, Gloria.”

“...you okay?”

“Huh? Yeah, yeah.”

Just then, the noon bells start to ring and Gloria, glad to have an excuse to escape what was probably one of the most awkward conversations of her life (the #1 honor probably goes to that time when she tried to re-introduce Hop and Bede, her newfound friend, to each other three years after she’d become champion), leaps to her feet and offers her hand to Hop. “How about we head for lunch? I know a cafe nearby that’s pretty great.”

Hop stares blankly at her hand for a moment, then takes it and lets her pull him up to his feet. With a grin, he bobs his head in agreement. “Sure, mate. I don’t mind anything, so lead the way!”

Relieved that there’s still some semblance of normality in their friendship, despite the kinda embarrassing bombshell that Gloria _ probably _ should’ve kept to herself, she grins and tugs him along, blissfully unaware (or rather, willfully ignoring) the stares of the passersby as they head down the street. “You’ll love the crepes, promise.”

She’s over it. She will be, anyways. Probably.

**Author's Note:**

> Based on Hazel's comic, with minor adjustments. See it here: https://twitter.com/hazel0217/status/1225360218667663361?s=20
> 
> Also, dedicated to Hazel, who revives my writing muse every time I think it died off somewhere in a ditch.
> 
> This might turn into a multi-chapter thing, so I'm tentatively leaving it that way.


End file.
